The Armour Archive

I want to move from aviation snips to a throatless shear.

I only have the money for the harbor freights one, if I were to get it and some spair blades, would it work?

I probly wouldn't be doing a lot of cutting on it, just what I needed. and mostly 16g cold rolled.

thanks for input.
~Casey

INHO, the Harbor Freight shear is miles above aviation snips. The blades are a hit or miss thing, as some are too brittle, so are too soft and some are juuuuust right. I've had mine for almost a year now and it's performed admirably for the price. I have heard horror stories of some falling apart, but mine's still kicking.

Their punch is a different matter, unfortunately...

I recently did the same upgrade you're thinking about. I haven't had a problem with the shears. I mean, they work. They're nothing pretty and compared to the Beverly they pretty poor quality, but they get the job done, and for the price i think they're the best thing you can get. I was a little nervous when i first pulled them out of the box as a lot of the pieces were rather loosely fitted together (even after tightening the whole rig, the upper blade is quite loose, and the handle can move a few inches from side to side), but they work. They can cut 18ga like butter, and 16 ga easy. I wouldn't be surprised if they could even cut 14 ga. The trick is to be careful, and get to know the 'feel' of them. Sometimes they don't cut well, and you can feel them pull, and tug at the metal rather then shearing it. When that happens just back off a little and go over it again.
I would certainly recommend them for a low budget armourer though. Like I said, nothing compared to the Beverly, but when you do get them that looming, painful task of cutting out your patterns pretty much goes away. It also goes much quicker. Anyways, good luck.

thanks guys.

so, I was trying my hand at a spaunder today, and I had to give up, once again, my wiss bulldogs just can't handle it. oh, and I am in need of some steel. so, I think once I make some money on my maille, hopefully not too long. then I am gonna grab the shear.

thanks
Casey

Check with me before buying a new one. I have three used ones with about 6 months on each. I used to use them for about 6-9 months then just buy a whole new shear... I have Beverlys now so I dont use them.

PM sent to you

~Casey

It is worth it. I've made my whole kit (16 & 14 ga, plus other projects, .09 aluminum, etc) with a HF shear, no problems. Blade is getting a bit dull now but that is to be expected - I've cut a LOT of steel.

Ive rehoned the blades ont he two I have for sale so they should be sharp for a little while. I just have to be careful of ANY downtime whatsoever as much as we produce. So have a couple extra shears laying around wasnt such a bad idea anyways. Whent he blades got a little dull I just unbolted the old machine and slapped a whole new machine up there. Then I could hone the blades on the old ones at my leisure. I believe with the beverlys I will simply buy replacement blades as the blades themselves cost more than a whole HF shear.

Mike,
I'd be interested as well, i will send a p.m.

as with most things i do i like to know everthing about it. so when i started doing sca style stuffs i got into plates and maile. im currently working with a great squire in my local barony to help me put together my suit and teach me some basic dishing and pounding. ive done a bit of maile on my own. so one day i decided i needed a better way to cut my links so i went down to home depot , wandered into the hand tool sections stood there for a good 15 mins atthe wall of pliers,snips,shears or other do dads. not a damn one had "avaiaton snips" on it. so anyone have a picture of the these things so i know what im looking for ? there were so many varietes i kinda got blury after a while trying to figure out what was what. the "tol guy" didnt have a clue of wtf aviation snips were either so i left empty handed =(

They are compound-leverage snipping-looking things that say "Wiss." They, like all other shears of this type, will have colored handles depending on how they are adapted to cut: red for cuts that turn left, yellow for straight cuts, green for cuts that turn right. For shearing wire, likely the yellow handled straight ones are best.

There's an even better Wiss snip, though: the Wiss M5 bulldog snip. It may have another letter after it that just tells which direction it can curve best in: a Wiss M5R is a right-cutting M5. They have shorter, stronger jaws.

There are snips that are some better (and correspondingly costlier) than Wiss snips. You can find Klenks in professionals' tool stores. I like my Klenks.

But these things are better at shearing sheet metal than working with wire for mail links; you have to make mods on the tool to avoid distorting the cut links into a spread-out C shape. When it comes to armor-grade mail link cutting, I prefer mini bolt cutters or small bolt cutters. They don't distort links and they cut very rapidly and easily. I deal with the pinch cut they make by butting links shut face to face, not point to point. The points overlap, one a bit inside, one as much outside.